Elian Summerby
__TOC__ Statistics Full name: Elian Faulkner Summerby Nicknames: Yes, you may call him Eli. It depends on whether he likes you or not how much he'll protest. And apparently Vicky shall call him Rigor (from Rigor Mortis). Age: 24 Date of birth: 17th October, 1980 Blood: Half-blood Wand: Ten inches, rowan wood, swishy, Chimaera scale Alumni: Hufflepuff Affiliation: Really, it's to himself. Like many others, growing up, he was told that the Aurors were the be all and end all, the coolest profession anyone could ever hope to get into and, because of this, after Hogwarts he started--and finished—Auror training. It took him two months on the job to discover he didn't like it. Within four months Elian had left the job. He underwent Healer training straight afterwards and now he works as a coroner for the MLE. During his training, he worked as an accountant for the Ministry so, it's fair to say, that since finishing his education his affiliation seems to have been firmly fixed within the Ministry. Home Life Mother: Harriet Summerby (nee Rice) Father: Lucian Summerby Siblings: Gadiel Summerby (28); Evander Summerby (26); Jareth Summerby (22); Nerissa Summerby (19) Other family: Various aunts and uncles (there's a reason Eli's own family is big, seeing as both of his parents came from big families), all four of his grandparents, numerous cousins. The Summerby family is extremely extensive and the kind that insists on meeting up whenever they can, which often results in a lot of screaming at one another followed by a rather large group hug. Relationships with each: Harriet Summerby. Elian loves and respects his mother; she was a great woman in her day, very creative and extremely brilliant. Harriet had a brain the size of Britain and then some but working as an Unspeakable for the Ministry has sapped that out of her a bit. She's different to the mother he remembers from his childhood, and he has found that she requires a lot more looking after. In some respects, Elian resents this but, at the same time, it's his mother. Their relationship, it's fair to say, is fairly messed up. Lucian Summerby. An abusive drunkard who ran out on them when Nerissa was two months old. Lucian made a few attempts to stay in contact with the family--well, more than a few, but Elian refused to have any contact with him once he was old enough to do so--and thus Elian at least knows him which he supposes he should be thankful for. He, to put it bluntly, hates him. Gadiel Summerby. Being the eldest, Gadiel looked out for everyone and he did it brilliantly. He was intelligent and resourceful, charismatic and attractive and everything that people should hate in older siblings. Elian adored him and, when he was younger, would follow him around everywhere. He wanted desperately to be like his older brother but never quite managed it. The two are closer, now, than they were as children. Evander Summerby. The dark horse of the family, Evander was really the only one who rebelled. Elian regarded him as a bit of a nuisance when they were growing up, always stealing his stuff, always making him look like a fool in front of strangers, housemates, friends and basically anyone. As fate would have it, Evander has gone onto become one of the more successful, a Potions master, teaching in an extremely select wizarding institution in Helsinki. Jareth Summerby. Jareth is confident and cheerful, where Elian is awkward and because of this appears to not be cheerful for the most part. Growing up, Evander and Gadiel would take themselves off and Elian found himself spending a lot of time with Jareth, getting compared to the other boy. He's resentful of the fact that the man seems to get along with everyone but, given their familial circumstances, can't bring himself to do anything more than resent this trait. Nerissa Summerby. The only girl, and the youngest to boot, it was kind of guaranteed that Nerissa would be doted over. It was also almost guaranteed that she would be a tomboy when she was younger. Nerissa is loud and cheerful and fond of dragging Elian out because she says he really needs to live a little. He loves his little sister, he does, but she annoys him greatly at times. Home: A small flat in Soho. Finances: Lower middle-class. Personal Life Personality: Elian is smart, but he's not infallible and he knows it. However, he's also not that likely to entertain people who are smart and would be able to correct him regularly simply because he has never been one for entertaining—and there's also the small matter that people with large egos tend to make him want to kill them. And, regardless of whether or not they themselves believe that they are egotistical, Elian is more than well aware they are wrong. It's something he's rather proud of, the ability to be able to tell when he is right and others are wrong. Of course, this ability has also lent itself to the fact that Elian is more often than not aware when he is wrong. He is, though, highly stubborn and not very likely to admit this out loud to many people. He'd argue the earth was a triangular shape if only he thought people would be stupid enough to listen to that argument. More than one time in the past, Elian has been told that he is a frightening individual and it's because he appears to be rather cold. He has no concern for other people's feelings, not really, and if something needs to be said, he's been known to say it. In work or in his own personal life, he doesn't take into account how someone else may be emotionally impacted by a certain course of action and he has only ever managed to take something like that into account when someone has actively made sure he does, hanging over everything and supervising to make sure he doesn't fuck someone's life up. (Because, let's face it, it's what he'd do.) Elian does not have a lot of trust in human nature. It's something that deserted him at a young age, when his father cleared off and his mother spent more time at her job than home with her kids. Strictly speaking, though, it's not that he doesn't have a lot of trust in human nature, just that he's naturally sceptical, cynical and pessimistic. In all honesty, he doesn't expect anything from anyone for quite sometime after he's got to know them, or if it is in a professional capacity. He's easily frustrated if people do not do their jobs and do not do them right. As much as it pains him to admit, he's a bit of an arsehole. Elian is blunt, Elian is focused, Elian is determined, and Elian will snap your head off if you say the wrong thing to him at the wrong time. There are very, very few people that he will not do this to and they should consider themselves lucky. This isn't to say, however, that he isn't friendly. When in a good mood, or even a fairly normal one, Elian will be friendly enough to everyone. When allowed to, he can be playful, mischievous even, and pranks are guaranteed to make him smile. He's a very self-deprecating individual and will often offer himself up as the butt of a joke. On top of this, Elian is loyal and scarily so. His friends are his friends, there's no arguing that, and he will protect them at all costs, be they right or wrong. When it comes to his friends, he's a bit blinkered. Even if they aren't in the right and, logically, he is able to realise this he often kids himself into thinking that they are. Elian has a terribly strange thought process when it comes to things that matter to him. Never a brave individual, Elian has his own form of courage. He does not like to be seen as weak by any means by anybody. It's something that haunts him, at times, the thought that people will think him weak, or fragile, that they'll goad him and try to make him break. It's not exactly that he has much experience with people like that—frankly, he avoids them although his few meetings with his father has shown him that the man would like to think of him as such—it's simply that he's terrified of being around people like that. Due to this, Eli has developed a rather odd sort of confidence, some might say arrogance. He does not let people see his weak moments and, when feeling particularly scared, terrified or anything of the sort, Elian squares his shoulders and marches onwards, barking orders and being as professional and blunt as he can. It's not that he wants to behave this way; truthfully, it's simply the only way he'll get through it. Afterwards, when he isn't required to have any kind of bravery or courage, Elian is quite noticeably different from that man. Marital status: Single. Sexual Orientation: Ambiguous. Strengths: A cast-iron stomach, Elian has yet to come across something that honestly makes him want to throw up and it's something he's extremely proud of. He's intelligent and analytical, but rather bad with emotions. As in, he very rarely gets emotionally involved with people full stop, let alone takes other people's emotions into account even when he should. It's a weakness, he supposes, except that it means that he can keep his mind clear and concentrate on the case in front of him which is a major strength. He's well-read, but this is often only in fiction, although he's a fondness for a select few non-fiction books (don't thrust any book concerning mythology at him. His mother was obsessed, he knows too much already, and he will throw it at someone.) He's not quick to anger, but he's extremely stubborn. Because of his attitude and personality, many people don't exactly make the greatest effort to get close to him, but Elian is almost the epitome of Hufflepuff loyalty: he will stand by his friends, or his family, through everything. This doesn't mean they have to be right, in fact that's irrelevant. Because he has a hard time feeling close to people, even those who would regard him as friends, he's staunchly, ridiculously loyal to those people he does feel close to. He is very persistent and determined, sometimes to the point of tunnel-vision. He's compassionate, kind, and generous to everyone but that doesn't mean that it's always given eagerly; it's more out of a sense of duty and propriety than anything. He's understanding and forgiving. Weaknesses: Elian doesn't tend to do well around new people, or people. He's rather shy, and extremely awkward, more content to stay locked away reading and it's pretty much been this way since he was a kid. He's extremely secretive, to the point of ridiculousness, but at the same time he appears to be very open. While Elian is prone to snapping at people, he isn't quick to anger but when he is angered, it's hard for him to simply forget. He carries a grudge to ridiculous lengths but, in all honesty, it can often be driven away with a simple action. He's forgiving and this can be an extremely bad thing in his line of work. Low self-confidence at times and at others he's far too arrogant. He often mistakenly thinks what he has to say, or what he thinks, is of far more importance than other peoples thoughts or feelings. Highly superstitious. Can appear arrogant at times, a bit of a wreck after situations where he is required to be brave. Only in private, of course as he is a rather private individual. Boggart: Himself, riddled with mental illnesses. He's terrified of ending up like his family. (The Summerby's do have a history of being mad. Or, rather, the ones that aren't complete idiots have a history of being a bit mad on it, though whether that's strictly the truth or due to the attitudes of people prior to modern times is uncertain.) Patronus: A raven Mirror of Erised: A family, that looks suspiciously like his own, all younger (as in, when he was roughly nine) except they are happy and smiling, and both parents are there. Amortentia Potion: The smell of a library, honey, cloves, onions, earth and ink. Aesthetics Appearance: One thing that is guaranteed is that Elian appears a lot taller than he actually is. If he somehow managed to chop about four inches of his height (possibly a bit more) he would be an ideal weight, even look quite muscular. As it is, however, he's not that short and thus appears rather skinny and this lends itself to him appearing much taller than he is. Still, Eli is taller than most men and is quite proud of this. Looking at him, though, one wouldn't think it as he tends to hunch forwards, as if hiding himself. Strictly speaking, Elian would be considered lean but it seems impossible for the man to be considered as such because what weight he has is swallowed, generally, in clothes that are too large for him—well, jumpers that are, considering all other articles of clothing are bought and ensured they fit properly. He appears to be all angles; sharp cheekbones, a nose that ends in a point, wrist bones that jut out of the skin. He has a very sharp, very unconventional appearance and there's more than once Elian has found himself being compared to an animal of some sort because of this. To go along with the "all angles" thing, Elian's entire face, and not just his cheekbones is angular, although this is often hidden behind dark brown hair which he very, very rarely remembers to cut on time. He has pale skin, dark eyes and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose that make it appear as if he has a tan at times. This is not the case and will never be the case. Put quite simply, Elian stays indoors far too often to have a tan. As much as he has made it known that he isn't fond of the man, Elian resembles his father. He's tall, he's skinny, he's angular and, as Harriet has told him on more than one occasion, he has his father's eyes. Dark brown, almost black, and a probing gaze, if Harriet Summerby is to be believed. He does, it's fair to say, appear far too serious at times. It's not that he is simply that that is the way his appearance lends itself. Truthfully, when happy, Elian looks just as at home smiling as he does appearing studious, although it is rare for him to look truly happy. Most of the time his appearance—or at least his expression—is, quite obviously, that of a daydreamer. Height: Six foot three. Weight: Lean, verging on skinny. Hair: Brown, often worn longer than is proper. Eyes: Brown Style of dress: Far from trendy, Elian is rather fond of clothing that would be considered more "nerdy". Jeans, or dark coloured trousers, jumpers, shirts and ties dominate his wardrobe. He's more comfortable in Muggle clothing, regardless of the fact that he was raised in a wizarding family. History Elian Summerby was a bright child. Not bright as he is today but bright and bubbly, cheerful and more than willing to run up to strangers and talk their ear off with childish babble. His mother, Harriet, was used to this behaviour by the time Elian was born however; his elder brother, Evander, was more than a little bit outgoing and was known to pounce on complete strangers and tell them his life story whenever he could. If he were to think about it, Eli would come to the conclusion that he was simply behaving the way he was used to seeing others behaving but he doesn't simply because the phase didn't last long. There was only a short period of time during which the Summerby family was a content one and, even then, it was only on the surface. Lucian Summerby had always had problems with alcohol, since before he'd met and married Harriet Rice, and as the years passed his problem worsened until the man's self-imposed rule (no drinking before nightfall) was broken several times over, to the point where he'd roll out of bed and the first thing he would drink would be a beer. It was a problem that was putting great strain on the family but the Summerby's, despite their appearance of being friendly and open, were careful to keep it a secret, telling no one and each one of them trusting it would simply make itself better. Maybe if they closed their ears and eyes against it, it'd go away. This wasn't the case and before long Lucian was known to become abusive when he drank, and then eventually when he didn't. There were a fair few fights over his drinking, even more over his anger issues, and, shortly after Nerissa's birth, Elian woke up one morning to discover his father wasn't there and his mother was crying. She didn't stop crying for days and, being only five years old, Elian couldn't understand it. He wanted his father back, but everytime he mentioned him his mother would go off into floods of tears. It didn't take him long to learn to keep his mouth shut and it seems, sometimes, as if that's all he's been doing since: keeping his mouth shut. Growing up in a wizarding family—nearly all of his relatives are half-bloods, with a few pure-bloods thrown in for good measure—Elian always knew he'd go to a wizarding school and it was expected that he'd end up at Hogwarts. What wasn't expected, however, was his placement there. Gadiel had been a Gryffindor, Evander a Ravenclaw and, considering the fact that all Elian seemed to do at the time was hide in his room and read, it was expected that he too would be sorted into Ravenclaw. Elian, himself, expected it to happen and wasn't pleased when the hat refused to listen to him that he didn't belong in Hufflepuff. For the first half of his first year there, Elian moped over his placement, a permanent scowl seeming to take up residence on his face and he was less than sociable. Of course, by the time the scowl managed to leave his face he was still less than sociable. School, to Elian, was school. He excelled at some subjects, he failed miserably at others. He tried hard to pass some, he couldn't have gave a flying fig about others. In short, his experience at school was really nothing extraordinary. Sure, there were events happening around him but they didn't necessarily affect him. The only thing that had a direct impact on him was the death of Cedric Diggory—Elian, who had been reserve Seeker for that year, was delighted to be allowed to play, not so happy when he discovered he was not the best Seeker in the world. During Elian's sixth year, his family suffered major upheaval. Gadiel decided to take off and explore Europe and Jareth decided he wanted to go with him. Harriet, who was dedicated to her work, barely noticed. It was around this time that Elian started to wonder if there was something wrong with her and sometime during sixth year, he managed to convince her to visit a mental health expert. She was quickly diagnosed as having dissociative personality disorder (multiple personality disorder) and Elian, racked with guilt, left Hogwarts for a few short months to try and help her. Some days were worse than others and it didn't take long for him to decide that he couldn't do this. Harriet, for the most part, did not need looking after, not by him, and he needed to finish his education after all. Returning in March, Elian buckled down, desperately trying to catch up on everything he had missed. While Elian was more than aware that war was raging around them, regardless of what the Ministry or the Daily Prophet said, he was far more interested in getting his NEWTs, things he needed if he wanted to make any kind of a difference once he left school. The difference he really wanted to make, however, was to his family. This, in itself, is one of the main reasons that Eli went on to tackle Auror training. Aurors, after all, were those who were supposed to protect people, weren't they? The philosophy of the branch was something Eli was very interested in upholding but, as he quickly discovered, it wasn't quite as easy as he had thought it would be. Training was tough and seemed to highlight the fact that he was awful with people. His instructors were not fond of him, saying that he had the ability but did not make the effort something that annoyed Elian highly because he knew he was making the effort. Eventually, though, he stopped trying and how he managed to pass the course he does not know. Due to the fact that he only barely managed to pass it, Elian found himself relegated to Patrol, a division which was so obviously not suited for him. One of the main requirements for this branch is interacting with other people, building rapports with them, and if anyone could have been less suited to the job it was Elian. There was no doubt he could do it, he simply did not enjoy it. And, with the war getting more and more violent around them, Elian truly felt as if he was doing nothing. After all, what difference did making sure that there were no fights in West Kensington that night make, in the grand scheme of things? Barely months after earning the title of "Auror" Elian quit and he did it with relish. For the past year or so he had been looking into the Healer's programme and he instantly enrolled in it, his grades at NEWT level ensuring his place. The deeper into the subject he got, the more the man found himself entranced by the aspect involving the dead and, as should have been expected, when he left the programme he was a fully qualified coroner. Despite the fact it was nearing the end of the war, there was still a lot of deaths—more than Elian would have anticipated--and when he took a job as the MLE's official coroner, alongside a small team of others, he found that he was quickly overwhelmed. But Elian didn't mind—he liked the job, he enjoyed doing what he was doing and, for the first time since leaving school, when he whined about it, he was glad he was whining. It was content whining, if there would ever be such a thing—and from Elian there is. He's rather fond of doing this. Since the end of the war, work has not exactly slowed down. It's always challenging, it's always interesting and Elian enjoys this. Sure, his family life isn't exactly the best ever—Nerissa has decided she wants to be in a rock band, Harriet has decided her new name is Rachel, Gadiel has decided that he wants to scale the Leaning Tower of Pisa—but Elian has, overall, managed to be fairly content with things, hiding away down in the morgue. Current Activities Shagging corpses .... i.e. Ruth, love, put something here Meta Player: Ruth PB: Matthew Gray Gubler Category: Characters Category: Played Characters Category: Department of Magical Law Enforcement